Systems for electrophotographic imaging include, for example, charging devices, fusing devices, and cleaning devices. Charging devices are needed, for example, to charge a photoreceptor (“receptor”), recharge a toner layer, charge an intermediate transfer belt for electrostatic transfer of toner, or charge a sheet of media, such as a sheet of paper. Conventional non-contact charging devices typically apply high DC voltages to wires or pins, such as corotrons, scorotrons, and dicorotrons, to produce ions for charging. Problems arise because the undesired highly reactive oxidizing species that are also generated in the process degrade the photoreceptor and causes air pollution. Alternative contact charging devices use high AC voltages to charge bias charging rolls. Problems arise with contact charging devices because the reactants generated along with mechanical wear serve to also degrade the photoreceptor.
Cleaning devices can include various mechanisms to physically remove toner particles from various surfaces. Cleaning devices, for example, brushes, blades and rolls, are almost constantly in contact with surfaces of imaging members, intermediate transfer members, bias charge rollers, and other subsystem components. The abrasive nature of such contact induces mechanical wear and tear on their surfaces that eventually causing print defects. As a result, cleaning devices in electrophotographic systems suffer from short operating life.
Fusing devices consisting of a fusing member, e.g. a heating roll member, a pressure roll member, a release agent donor roll, or any member in the fusing device, permanently affix a transferred image to a support material, typically paper, to create a copy or print for subsequent removal of the finished copy. High speed fusing devices for black/white (B/W) imaging and color imaging, both suffer from similar failure modes including, for example, fusing offset and surface degradation associated print defects, delamination between a fuser member and metal substrate or silicone under-layer, uneven wear, and high wear. Release oil and/or release layer (resilient covering) coating are usually applied to a fuser member to minimize the effects of some of these problems. However, chemical reaction and thermal heating induced surface degradation derived from interaction of the oil, toner particles, and coating causes an uneven surface and defective patterns in print images. Amino-functional release oil can chemically react to a Viton coating and also to toner ingredients, thereby initiating and leading to image offset failure. For color fusing, fuser life is limited by the image offset problem and further related to the physical interaction between a toner and a degraded toner surface. Thus, chemical and physical surface interaction is once of the major culprits in limiting the life of fusing subsystem components.
Mechanical and associated system failures related to fusing components, cleaning components, and charging components leads to higher total cost of ownership (TCO) and costs to a manufacturer. Studies have revealed that the two major concerns for customers are machine reliability and TCO. Increasing operating life for electrophotographic devices can greatly increase customer satisfaction with a particular manufacturer's imaging devices.
Accordingly, the present teachings solve these and other problems of the prior art's performance failures associated with fusing components, cleaning components, and charging components.